London International Disputes Week (LIDW)

We would like to extend our sincere thanks to Prof Loukas Mistelis FCIArb, Partner, Steptoe LLP, and Jonathan Cary, Partner, RPC, as they come to the end of their tenure as Co-Chairs of London International Disputes Week.   Through their leadership, commitment and hard work, Loukas and Jonathan have played a pivotal role in LIDW’s continued growth and success, helping to cement its position as the world’s leading forum for the international disputes community. We are immensely grateful for their contribution and for everything they have done to support LIDW and its wider community.   As we look ahead to the next chapter, we are delighted to welcome Sophie Lalor-Harbord, Partner, Stewarts, and Luiz Aboim, Partner, Mayer Brown as Co-Chairs for #LIDW27, joining Emilie Jones, Legal Director, Pinsent Masons, in leading the organisation of the week.   We look forward to working with them as LIDW continues to grow, evolve and bring together the people and ideas shaping the future of international dispute resolution.   Thank you once again to Loukas and Jonathan for their outstanding service, and a very warm welcome to Sophie and Luiz.

Congratulations to Sean West, keynote speaker at #LIDW26, on being named in the Financial Times Law 50, recognising individuals helping to shape the future of the legal sector. 👏   Sean’s recognition speaks to the kind of forward-looking discussion that sits at the heart of London International Disputes Week: how law, disputes and decision-making are evolving in response to geopolitical, technological and economic change.   At #LIDW26, Sean brought exactly that perspective to the conversation, helping to challenge conventional thinking and look ahead to what the future of international dispute resolution may require.   We look forward to continuing those conversations when LIDW returns from 7–11 June 2027. Save the date and join us as we bring together the people and ideas shaping the future of international dispute resolution.

Now that #LIDW26 is over, we are already starting planning for #LIDW27. To help us make LIDW as good as it can be and provide your feedback on LIDW26. Thanks to all those who participated in LIDW26!

We hope you enjoyed #LIDW26. Feedback is vital to help LIDW to develop and improve. We would appreciate your thoughts and reflections on the week. Please submit your feedback here: https://lnkd.in/ed3tsXZn Responses close at the end of the working day, Friday 19 June. London International Disputes Week is run on a not-for-profit basis. The members of the LIDW board and strategy group, and its various sub committees and working groups, are drawn from member firms and all are volunteers who work very hard to make this happen. Our grateful thanks to them and to our amazing sponsors!

I am heading to London International Disputes Week (LIDW) next week. This year’s theme “Tradition, Trust, and Transformation in International Dispute Resolution”, couldn’t feel more timely. I’m particularly looking forward to joining the NextGen and junior legal community sessions, and to the conversations around what it means to build a disputes practice that is future-facing and committed to international growth. If you're attending LIDW or based in London next week and would like to meet up, please drop me a message here or reach out directly. See you there!👋 #LIDW2026 #InternationalArbitration #Litigation #Mediation #NextGen

Should trainee lawyers have access to AI or should law firms limit/control it? The recent case, where a NQ solicitor and supervising fee earners were found to have misled the court through a series of letters, is a big lesson for the industry. The fact that their prompts were disclosed to the court makes the point even sharper. It really shows why these tools must be used carefully and intelligently by people who understand both how to use them and the consequences of getting it wrong. It has made me think a lot about how we train junior lawyers (myself included) to use AI. The issue is not whether AI has a place in practice - it clearly does. The question is how we make sure junior lawyers use it to become better practitioners. At the moment, there feels like a real gap in learning. That gap covers everything from how to prompt properly, to understanding what AI can and cannot do, to drafting without over reliance on it, to checking outputs properly against Practical Law, LexisNexis and textbooks, thinking for yourself, spotting what is missing, testing whether something is accurate, and recognising when something could be misleading. I do worry that lawyers growing with AI may not always build that confidence in their own judgment before reaching for a tool. I was interested in a session at London International Disputes Week (LIDW) NextGen Academy, Gaining confidence in AI tools, with Alexandre Vagenheim, Eimear McCann, Eliza Jiang and Omar Puertas Alvarez, where they discussed the idea of sandbagging - the point being that AI can often infer the user’s level of proficiency and will respond accordingly. Which brings me back to supervision. If recent judgments are criticising firms for inadequate supervision in this area, how can supervisors properly oversee junior lawyers’ use of AI if they have no visibility of the prompts being entered in the first place? And how can we be confident that junior lawyers really understand the work they are producing if they are not being pushed to read around the subject, analyse the issues themselves and form their own view before using AI? If I send a junior lawyer a set of instructions and those instructions are simply fed straight into AI (something I could have done myself), the value of the exercise is lost. It is lazy and makes supervision harder. Often times, I find myself taking my own instructions, putting them into AI and comparing the work product side by side to assess how much real thought has gone into it. More time is then spent reviewing, as I cannot be fully confident that the output has been properly tested against the actual facts. I am a strong advocate for AI but I also worry that some trainee lawyers are not learning the fundamentals as they should, and are becoming too dependent on the tool before they have built the underlying skills. There is also the flipside that if controlled, junior lawyers will not use AI. Would be so keen to hear your views on this. #LIDW #AI #NextGen

That’s a wrap on #LIDW26. Over five days, we celebrated London as the definitive meeting place for the global disputes community. From International Arbitration Day and the Main Conference to the LegalTech Showcase and more than 350 Member-Hosted Events, this year’s programme brought together practitioners from across jurisdictions, sectors and disciplines to explore the theme of Tradition, Trust and Transformation in International Dispute Resolution. Throughout the week, discussions spanned the full spectrum of disputes practice, addressing the challenges and opportunities shaping the profession today. Judges, academics, in-house counsel, arbitrators, litigators and dispute resolution specialists all contributed their perspectives, creating the rich exchange of ideas that makes London International Disputes Week unique. Most importantly, #LIDW26 demonstrated the strength, diversity and international reach of the disputes community, and the value of bringing that community together. Thank you to our speakers, delegates, members, sponsors and partners for making this year’s programme such a success. We look forward to welcoming you back for #LIDW27.

As we reach the final day of #LIDW26, we're looking back at another day of insightful discussions across London. Yesterday's Member-Hosted Events explored a wide range of issues shaping the disputes landscape, from keeping costs proportionate in complex disputes and strengthening Africa–UK dispute resolution partnerships, to addressing the root causes of construction disputes and navigating energy arbitration in an increasingly unstable global environment. The day also saw the return of the LIDW NextGen Social, where the next generation of disputes practitioners swapped conference rooms for pétanque courts at Boulebar South Bank. Alongside the friendly competition, the evening provided a fantastic opportunity to build new connections and strengthen existing ones in a more relaxed setting. This video captures just a snapshot of the activity taking place across #LIDW26. With hundreds of events delivered throughout the week, the programme has once again demonstrated the depth of London's disputes community. As we head into the final day, we'd love to see your highlights. Share your photos and insights using #LIDW26 and join the conversation online.